THE REFORM OF ECONOMICS: HOW THE COMPLEX SYSTEMS APPROACH IS BUILDING A REALISTIC AND HUMANE ALTERN

Mainstream economics (MSE) relies on simple, static models; it is foundationist, deducing its theories from ‘apriori’ data identified introspectively. However, economic systems are actually complex (with heterogeneous agents; qualitative/ ambiguous variables; nonlinear dynamics; uncertainty; and emergence); dynamic and static models lead to different conclusions; and professional/ cultural preconceptions contaminate apriori data. These defects produce dangerous inaccuracies in the MSE model of the world. Sound, policy-relevant economics requires new tools. Two of these (fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms) admit more realistic specifications (heterogeneity, price exploration, etc) into the perfect-competition model (PCM), whose apparent justice and efficiency are shown to be artefacts of its own simplifications. Other mainstream models (e.g. international trade) rely on the properties of the PCM. All this invalidates claims for the virtues of laissez-faire. Given the failure of the foundationist approach, the reform of economics requires a change in methodology towards the empirical sciences pattern. In complex settings, actions precipitate reactions, vitiating short-term, competitive, individualistic strategies; hence, rational human behavior is a competitive/ collaborative hybrid. This invalidates the claim that the exclusive pursuit of personal agendas will always render the public sector inefficient. Nozick, Friedman, and Hayek claimed (different, incompatible) philosophical grounds for advocating a minimal state; these are also refuted. Our hybrid nature contains drives (e.g., for autonomy, and achieving a sense of significance in one’s life) that are critical to our well-being, and therefore to the ethical question of what constitutes ‘a good life’. This implies some ethical constraints on the design of economic policy, and these are explored.

THE REFORM OF ECONOMICS: HOW THE COMPLEX SYSTEMS APPROACH IS BUILDING A REALISTIC AND HUMANE ALTERN is indexed in: Economics

REBELLION IN PRINT: POLITICAL IDEAS AGAINST THE CURRENT

There is altogether too much reliance on coercive force and its threat in human relations in most societies, including developed ones, and Machan’s objective in this book – which draws on many years of study in the field of political economy and theory – is to show that morally and practically the peaceful alternative within the classical liberal tradition is a superior one to all of the coercive polities in human history and around the globe. Machan reminds the reader that certain revolutionary ideas had come to be influential – for example, in the founding of America, via the principles of the Declaration – which drew a great deal of insight from such thinkers as John Locke. He explores the foundations of these insights, including the idea that there is a reasonably firm human nature, that human adults are moral agents and that this agency rest on the basic capacity to reason and to choose freely. The implications of accommodating these insights are then examined and defended against skeptical doubts. A good deal of the work concentrates on what Machan, following former U. S. President Gerald Ford, calls the petty tyrannies of government regulation, a form of prior restraint that is unwarranted as public policy for free men and women and one that can be replaced with policies that avoid such unjust approaches. Throughout the book, titled Rebellion In Print, Political Ideas Against the Current, Machan established the standard for civilized political life of reliance on reason instead of coercive force, not because necessarily this will produce optimal living in society, which it will tend to do, but primarily because the morally significant life of human beings – wherein they can be at their best as human individuals in the company of others – requires it.

REBELLION IN PRINT: POLITICAL IDEAS AGAINST THE CURRENT is indexed in: Geopolitics

Machan’s book advances an indispensable normative case for the free marketsystem of economy. He addresses the different approaches taken to showingthe superiority of the system to others and also discusses the charge that therecent financial fiasco was caused by “market fundamentalism,” as the likes ofPaul Krugman keep claiming. This is a vital entry into the on-going debateabout whether the economic system based on the principles of freedom ofeconomic conduct, free exchange, private property rights, etc., is better than oneregimented from the top, either by some czar or a democratic assembly. Anyonewho is concerned with both the productivity and decency of an economicsystem needs to address Machan’s arguments.

The Normative Defense of Free Market Capitalism:Did the Free Market Cause the Financial Fiasco? is indexed in: Law